Before those Chinese tariffs kick in?

That was funny !

 

Those new Icon sockets aren’t bad

 

their tool boxes are real nice

 

Perhaps you shop at Harbor Freight too much when walking thru the door and the cashier calls you out by name..... good afternoon, Steve.

Guilty as charged.

 

Harbour Freight is good for when you need that one tool, that one time, for that one job, that you know you'll either never use it again, or you might have a friend who will need it once as well, and you won't mind lending it to him, and won't care if he never gives it back,...lol.

I do have one of their bigger roller tool chests,....very heavy duty construction, and it's just for home use along with an upper and lower Husky chest and cabinet, and my older Craftsman roller, chest, middle box and two side cabinets.

I don't need mortgage payments on Snap-On or MAC tool storage for stuff that will never roll anywhere from where it is now.

 

It has nothing to do with if the stuff is good enough for using around the house.
It is still about and will always be about you are sending money to the people that want to kill you in your sleep.
The people we are spending TRILLIONS of tax dollars to protect you from
and your greedy, selfish , LOSER ass is sending them money!!!

AGAIN, I'm just as guilty because I needed stuff in an emergency for business and to save something that had fallen.

We have to stop buying 90% of our medicine from china.
We have to stop buying stolen, counterfeited products from the people playing the long game
and winning that control our economy and debt!!!

We have to suck it up and take the pain now, and force them back into drowning their babies!!!




.

 

It has nothing to do with if the stuff is good enough for using around the house.
It is still about and will always be about you are sending money to the people that want to kill you in your sleep.
The people we are spending TRILLIONS of tax dollars to protect you from
and your greedy, selfish , LOSER ass is sending them money!!!

AGAIN, I'm just as guilty because I needed stuff in an emergency for business and to save something that had fallen.

We have to stop buying 90% of our medicine from china.
We have to stop buying stolen, counterfeited products from the people playing the long game
and winning that control our economy and debt!!!

We have to suck it up and take the pain now, and force them back into drowning their babies!!!




.

I bet you would have a hard time finding a tool company that is 100% American made. Snap-On I believe is but most everything is outsourced materials/parts or built in another country. DeWalt is my choice in cordless and they are not cheap especially the batteries. Some are American made, some China, some Tiawan. Craftsman went all China so cost factor why not give China less by buying ICON?

Don't get me wrong I hope one day we are more America first but why in the world would you buy a $350 8 piece wrench set when you could buy a 14 pc for $40 for comparable build quality for home use? I also have issue with most wrench turners taking out a 2nd mortgage for their toolbox because that is what is expected of them. Not saying they need inferior tools but young guys and women can't afford a lifestyle if all their extra money is paying a tool bill for a low to medium paying job as they get started in life.

 

That meglinating variable intensity multifunction power tool looks fun. All those things it does I need to do...

 

Prices already went up there.
I used to buy those big orange mallets,great for pistons,and the the spotweld cutters.
Some sanding shit.Not much else.
I did score a grwat deal years ago on ladder racks.Hit a sale on them,used the coupon,and bought in tax free Delaware.
Think I got them for 150,lol

 

I have one of their 56" series 3 US general roller cabinets and it's really good quality. I'd probably even choose it over a snap-on box if I were a tech.

The Icon brand isn't bad either. I don't think I'd use the Pittsburgh stuff, though. I don't work in shops anymore, so I can't justify buying snap-on tools, especially since I can't exactly go to a SO route driver and get something replaced if it breaks.

 

I have one of their 56" series 3 US general roller cabinets and it's really good quality. I'd probably even choose it over a snap-on box if I were a tech.

The Icon brand isn't bad either. I don't think I'd use the Pittsburgh stuff, though. I don't work in shops anymore, so I can't justify buying snap-on tools, especially since I can't exactly go to a SO route driver and get something replaced if it breaks.

If you do some research, the tool boxes sold at other stores and their origins will surprise you. I like you, don't work on the floor of a shop anymore. I have brought all my tools and storage home to join my "at home" collection. Now I pretty much have quadruples of every socket, wrench, hammer, screw driver, etc..... but anyway back to the boxes.

Back at least 10 years ago when I bought my Husky lower roller cabinet, and top chest to match for my home garage, it was the largest ones Home Depot sold at the time. Snap-On and Mac came to the shop, and still do, so I always get their flyers. MAC had a lower roller cabinet for sale, and the pic on the flyer looked exactly like the Husky I bought, except obviously it was about 5k more than the one I bought.

I looked very closely at the one on the truck, and it was exactly the same. Same drawer set up, same self closing drawers, same chrome directional wheels, same caster locks, etc...etc.... well, I soon discovered through more digging, that they "are" the same box, built for Home Depot and MAC,....by Stanley Tools.

 

If you shop there more than a few times a year, their membership is definitely worth the cost. Shoot, they give members free 5-gallon buckets a few times a year, I get one each day while that promo is going on, I use them for "Christmas Wrapping Paper" to hold gifts for people that need buckets instead of bullshit gift bags.

 

I have farm equipment, three motorcycles, two vintage cars, ATVS, UTVS. Harbor Freight tools do me fine. I was buying Icon, but find Quinn is good enough.
They are going to:release a new generation of Icon ratchets, so I will buy the close out first gens.

 

I modify a lot of Harbor Freight tools to my own specifications. I modified one tool that came out really really nice. Well I posted a picture of it on their website. Within an hour the picture was removed. This went back and forth for a good 8 hours before I finally got the hint they didn't want to see my modified Harbor Freight tool.

I'll start a thread about that modified Harbor Freight tool soon.

 

I've outgrown the tool cabinet/chest that my father in law made for me out of wood, when we move I'll pick up a metal one so I can better organize everything I have.

I'm not a professional tech and I've historically been brand agnostic, so I have a big mix of stuff.

 

I purchased this US General 56" top, bottom and storage lockers 4 or 5 years ago as a Christmas gift to myself. Harbor Freight was having a 20% off any one time purchase if you signed up for their Insider Track Club. It was a no brainer, I saved hundreds of dollars with that promotion.

Anyway, here's the tool chest. I took the handles that came on the upper and lower chests, and bolted them to the storage cabinets as grab handles.

 

I printed the above ad out and took it to my local HF. They liked it, most had never seen anything like it. Gave me the sale price on the tool I needed even though it wasn't on sale and I didn't have a coupon. I like folks with a decent sense of humor and these guys today definitely had one.

 

LOL.....that was pretty smart, well done.

 

My Buddy may he RIP used their Ratchet Wrenches all the Time and never broke one of them!!

 

Handiest tool in my toolbox, I have probably given 20 of these away and constantly get calls from recipients telling me how handy they are! One of the best uses is to flip the handle end 180 degrees from the picture so it's over the top of the ratchet head, fastest way to run bolts in and out I have found, sure beats having that ratchet handle in the way. They're about $17 but I snag them when they run them on sale for around $12. LIfetime guarantee, too!!!

 

Nice,....looks like could be used for a substitute for a distributor lock down bolt wrench.

 

The double articulation makes for a shitty hammer, though. Maybe that's why it's lasted longer than my other ratchets...
My kids call it the "wonky" ratchet, works for me!

 

I’ve made a few of these trunnion press’s over the years using the HF dinky arbor press. Piss poor machine work by the chicoms but it works.

 

That joke add is old, but still good. I share it once in awhile to those who haven't seen it.

 

I've got a 42 inch that used to keep all my sockets in the deep top drawer. Where it has set is by my drain and there's some fall in the concrete. One day out of the blue it tipped over on me as I was getting sockets out. I was struggling to save it and ended up dumping pretty much everything. Kind of messed up the track but otherwise unscathed. Couldn't figure out what happened till one day I went to move it and all the rubber came off one of the front wheels. Just enough to make it tilt. They've all gone junk now but a buddy had some later model wheels I replaced them with. They had been taken off a the shop for the printing company I worked for as they always replaced the wheels with a cart with bigger wheels so they can tow them around the plant with a little electric chariot.

 

Northern Tool has some really good casters on sale for $8.99, item 50610. I've put them on pretty much everything I own. Wide wheel, bigger swivel and wider spindle carries loads better, I have never had one fail. No comparison to the plastic pieces of shit that will flat spot with virtually no load - these steel fuckers never will. I make my own shop and furniture dollies with these and scrap pieces of laminated beam I get from construction dumpsters, according their ratings, they'll carry over a ton. I just ordered another dozen and got the $10 gift card so that made them an even better deal.

 

New coupons out this morning, for members 30% off any item $20 or less, limit 5 of the item...that makes my wonky ratchet $11.89, time to grab more for this year's giveaways! I'll probably get the max all 3 days of the coupon, we have a car show this weekend and I'll take a handful...

 

Buy me something, anything. Surprise me, your kindness won't go unnoticed.

 

From NY Post today:

“Now he’s calling for a universal tariff of 10% to 20% on all imports into the United States from all countries and an additional tariff of 60% on all imports from China.

Trump also has called for a global reparations conference on COVID-19 in which the Chinese government could be given a bill into the trillions for its role in the origins of the pandemic that killed more than 1 million Americans.
Trump last year also floated forcing China to pay $50 trillion in “reparations” for the virus, which parts of the US government, including the FBI, believe originated …..”

 

From NY Post today:

“Now he’s calling for a universal tariff of 10% to 20% on all imports into the United States from all countries and an additional tariff of 60% on all imports from China.

Trump also has called for a global reparations conference on COVID-19 in which the Chinese government could be given a bill into the trillions for its role in the origins of the pandemic that killed more than 1 million Americans.
Trump last year also floated forcing China to pay $50 trillion in “reparations” for the virus, which parts of the US government, including the FBI, believe originated …..”

Absolutely. This needs to be done. And every family that lost a loved one with Covid should receive $1 mill. This will make them think twice next time.

 

While we're on the subject of casters, I replaced the small casters on my older shop crane/cherry picker with 6" steel swivel units and added a couple of feet of steel onto the lift arm. It's now my "yard arm", I use it outside and can pick up and move complete rearends, blocks, whatever and the big wheels roll where the small ones wouldn't. Throw a discarded serpentine belt around the base and I can tow it with my pickup with the belt on the hitch ball. Tried it first with pneumatic tires, save your money, they won't swivel and the pneumatic tires try to fold over.

 

I have the worst luck with casters. I have yet found a caster strong enough to withstand the abuse I put them thru.

The problem lies in how the concrete was finished in my garage. All of the control joints where troweled finished in lieu of saw cut.

Casters don't like troweled control joints in concrete.

 

I purchased this 12" vertical sander off of their clearance rack for $70 dollars, regular price $200. It was missing the safety key to turn the machine on, no big deal, I have several of those keys.

After checking run-out of the disk that was 16 thousands out, I had the disk milled to make it true. That cost $50 dollars. So for $120 dollars I have a perfect tool for my metal work.

 

I'll put my Icon hand tools and Hercules power tools up against the tools on the truck anyday.

 

Icon hand tools aren't bad, they do the job as good as the high dollar stuff. Put your Hercules battery stuff up against Milwaukee Fuel tools and you'll soon see why a lot of us own Big Red!!!

If you need something to be and stay sharp or in you need long lasting strong battery power, buy your stuff from somewhere other than Hazard Fraught. Most of their other stuff is just fine.